Can’t make`The Hobbit’ premiere? Blame it on LUV

No amount of wizardry could justify the economics of United's IAH-Auckland service

All is not well in Middle Earth. Not the fictional land of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” but the real land used to represent it in film. Next month, the first Rings prequel — yes, for some reason there’ will be more than one — will premiere in New Zealand, where all of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth movies have been filmed.

The currency has doubled in value, hindering exports and deterring tourists that came in droves after the earlier films. In the capital’s business district, 15 percent of offices lie empty. A 45-minute flight south in Christchurch, the nation’s third-biggest city — gateway to many of the movies’ locations – – is rebuilding its ruined center after two major earthquakes.

The government is hoping the Hobbit movies will reverse a 10 percent drop in tourist spending since 2008 and reinvigorate a film production industry that has increased about 10-fold since New Zealand film director Peter Jackson began using the country’s scenery to recreate Tolkien’s Middle Earth in 1999.

It was, of course, a passive-aggressive ruse. The prolonged troubles of United’s merger with Continental Airlines prompted the need for the job cuts. The decision to scrap the Auckland route, though, had more to do with the decline in tourism in New Zealand. Other airlines, including many in the region, have pulled down service to Auckland. What’s more, the route no longer made sense for a United looking for savings amid rising merger-related costs. It can save money by putting more fuel-efficient planes, such as the recently arrived Boeing 787, on more-traveled routes.

Still, in the twisted logic of Airlineland, United would have us believe this is all Southwest’s fault. Sure, we’ll get cheap flights to Mexico out of Hobby, but you can forget flying to Middle Earth.